PUDUCHERRY: Fatty liver, Hepatitis B and C have emerged the most common causes of liver damage, said Prof Mohamed Rela, director of Institute of Liver Disease and Transplantation, Global Hospitals Group, while delivering a talk on ‘Liver Transplant - Trends over Two Decades’ in Puducherry on Sunday.
Though consumption of alcohol is an important cause for liver failure, it is not the most common cause now. It accounts for only 20 per cent of the cases, he said and added that obesity along with diabetes and high blood pressure is leading to liver diseases and failures.
“The intake of carbohydrates is very high in the diet of Indian people which leads to obesity and storage of excess fat in the liver. To reduce the carbohydrate content, rice items have to be avoided,” Prof Rela said. The fatty liver condition could be revered with proper diet and exercise, he added.
The liver transplantation has improved the chances of survival with the success rate of the surgery being 90 per cent in adults and 95 per cent in children. On an average 90 per cent will survive one year, 75 per cent five years, while 10 per cent die in the first year, he said.
However, the transplant programme is not reaching the needy due to high cost of the transplant and scarcity of organs, said prof Rela.
Around 80 per cent of the transplants are from living donors and the outcome is good. However, the deceased donor transplant is still at infancy in the country.
“As compared to Europe where 30 out of a total of 30 million deceased population donate organs, in India it is only one in a million deceased population. There is a huge need to improve cadaver organ donation. Not only the relatives of the deceased have to be counselled for it, but also the brain death has to be diagnosed on time so that the organs could be harvested,” he said.